Mark Fuhrman, detective at center of OJ Simpson murder trial, dead at 74

Mark Fuhrman, the former Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detective who played a central role in the 1995 O.J. Simpson murder trial, has died at the age of 74.

Chief Deputy Coroner Lynette Acebedo of Kootenai County, Idaho, confirmed Fuhrman's death to Fox News Digital on Monday. Fuhrman died last week, according to NBC4. 

TMZ reported that Fuhrman's death followed a battle with an aggressive form of throat cancer.

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Former Los Angeles police Detective Mark Fuhrman (L) took the witness stand with his attorney Darryl Mounger (R) during the O.J. Simpson double murder trial. (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

During the trial for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, Fuhrman became a key figure after discovering a bloody glove at Simpson’s Rockingham estate. Prosecutors said the item matched a glove found at the scene where the two victims were murdered.

Fuhrman's involvement in the trial later led to significant controversy and damaged his credibility after audio recordings surfaced in which he used racial slurs, including the N-word. 

Forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden — who said he knew Mark Fuhrman and had worked with him over the years — noted that despite Fuhrman finding evidence he considered "very incriminating of O.J. Simpson," his role as a key witness changed dramatically as a result.

"He got in trouble at the O.J. Simpson trial because of things he said to a reporter that were recorded," Baden told Fox News Digital.

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Johnnie Cochran, Robert Kardashian, Barry Scheck, F. Lee Bailey, Shapiro and Alan Dershowitz comprised OJ Simpson's dream team. (Sam Mircovich/AFP)

Despite previously denying such conduct under oath, the defense argued that the tapes raised questions about his credibility and whether evidence in the case had been properly handled. 

The defense also used the recordings to suggest that Fuhrman may have planted the bloody glove to frame Simpson.

Fuhrman was accused of lying on the witness stand and was convicted of perjury in 1996, making him the only person associated with the case to be convicted of a crime related to the trial.

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Despite the controversy surrounding the case, Baden described Fuhrman as "a very smart detective," while adding, "he wasn’t always totally accurate."

After retiring from the LAPD in 1995, he remained in the public eye as a true crime author and a talk radio host. 

He was also involved in other high-profile investigations for years after the Simpson case, including the Martha Moxley murder case in Connecticut involving Michael Skakel, a cousin of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to Baden.

O.J. Simpson holds up his hands before the jury on June 21, 1995, after putting on a new pair of gloves similar to the infamous bloody gloves during his double-murder trial in Los Angeles.  (Vince Bucci/Pool/AP)

"I think they’ll remember him," Baden said, reflecting on Fuhrman’s lasting public legacy decades after the "Trial of the Century."

He further described Fuhrman as "an investigative detective at heart" who was "intense in what he was doing."

"It’s always sad to learn of the passing of someone so my thoughts go out to his family during this difficult time," he said. "While we were never close personally, our lives were indelibly linked through our roles in the O.J. Simpson trial over thirty years ago. It was a deeply complex and painful chapter for everyone involved, but any loss of life is a time for reflection and solemnity. I hope his loved ones can find peace in their grief."